This invention relates generally to ultrasound systems and, more particularly, to methods and devices for controlling imaging in ultrasound systems.
At least some known ultrasound systems, for example, an ultrasound machine or scanner, are capable of performing three dimensional (3D) volume date acquisition and acquisition of the 3D data sets progressing over time (4D). Raw data and processed data of the 3D and 4D data sets may grow exponentially as multiple dimensional data are spanned. Large data sets can make managing and manipulating the data hardware intensive, such as requiring large amounts of random access memory (RAM), large disk storage, powerful microprocessors, and image handling chipsets. The large data sets also may make navigating though the data, locating an object of interest, and displaying a desired view of the object of interest cumbersome and difficult. Because the physical space on the ultrasound machine may be limited, it is often not possible to provide a real-time or offline 3D or 4D representation of the data available to the user at all times.
A common approach to managing the limited space for data and display capabilities is to use only a portion of the data, such as every Nth frame or image of a plurality of images that make up a data set. However, using only every Nth frame or image may result in the omission of data for which a user is searching. Additionally, allowing a user to view only a portion of the data may not represent the data in a manner familiar to the user.